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A smoke alarm alerted a sleeping Atwater resident Wednesday afternoon to a fire growing in his kitchen, allowing the man time to report the blaze and escape without injury, Merced County fire officials said.

A commericial truck driver suffered unspecified minor injuries Friday after his vehicle crossed the center divide of Highway 99, near Delhi, and overturned in a ditch, the California Highway Patrol reported.

With California Gov. Jerry Brown leading the way, a ceremony Tuesday in downtown Fresno marked the start of construction on the high-speed rail project, more than six years after voters approved a $9.9 billion bond act that will help fund the system. Brown and other dignitaries signed pieces of ceremonial rails, signifying that the project is underway.

The Madera and Merced county farm bureaus allege that the California High-Speed Rail Authority is falling short of its responsibilities under a legal settlement stemming from the organizations’ lawsuits over the Merced-Fresno portion of the bullet-train route.

Starting Jan. 1, California residents who can’t prove they are in United States legally will be allowed to obtain driver’s licenses under Assembly Bill 60, which Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law last year.

Representatives of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife met with a few dozen members of farm and neighborhood watches from Stanislaus and Merced counties Wednesday night to separate mountain lion myth from mountain lion reality.